24 Hours of Awesome

We’ve just finished up our fifth edition (and year) of the 24 Hour Web Project and, much like the previous Projects, this year was filled with a lot of fun, challenges, and caffeine. Maybe a few naps, definitely a lot more physical activity than previous 24HWPs. Let’s recap, shall we?

Partners in Housing (PIH) was our non-profit this year, and we were honored to craft a new website, content and digital marketing materials to help them tell their story. The mission of PIH is to provide affordable housing to people who most need a stable place to live, while giving them support and a chance to reach their highest level of self-sufficiency. How could we not be excited to do great work for them?

Let’s look at their site before (if you’re impatient and want to see the after RIGHT AWAY, you’ll have to scroll to the bottom for that goodness):

The PIH team needed a way to tell their story better. The organization has seen a lot of recent transformation and the site needed to reflect the PIH of today. Oh, and we also wanted it to be a responsive web design, so it could be viewed easily at any display size. No small feat in 24 hours! So, after kicking off with a delicious lunch, we got down to business with planning content and design, as well as crafting a compelling video centered around the success of one of their residents. Tyler and Jenny took on planning the site, a first for both of them during the 24HWP, while Mayowa worked on video editing:

Around 7pm, Neil finished designing the home page and rounded up both teams to present the design, which was met with many smiling faces:

After that, Nick began crafting the email template in ExactTarget:

And Drew lead the PIH team in brainstorming ideas for evergreen blog posts:

Both teams worked to create and edit content for the site, and the design team drafted wireframes and designs for functionality around PIH’s Properties pages, as well as sketches of infographics to supplement photos and text.

As the night grew near, the team decided to start an hourly plank challenge to keep our bodies moving and our minds energetic.

At midnight we all tried the 7-minute workout, if only to help combat the effects of eating delicious Just Pop In popcorn from @jackola:

We hit a minor hurdle when the internet went out for about 35 minutes at 4am, but we kept ourselves busy with silliness and human arches:

As if making a website and digital marketing materials wasn’t enough, we also sought to raise money and collect non-perishable foods for PIH during the Project. We ended up raising over $200 (Want to donate? You still can here.) and got a near-boatload of food from the community, including @keeeksy:

The whole team really came together to jump in and tackle all the things that needed to be done, whether at a high-level or down in the details. This was our first year to create a responsive website in 24 hours. I have to say I am incredibly proud of what we were able to accomplish, a feat which I think is due in part to the team’s passion around helping out such a great organization and PIH’s commitment and energy around getting things done. A big thank you to everyone who contributed time, money, energy, food, positive thoughts, tweets, and retweets. We can’t wait to see how this work helps PIH advance their mission. Now, for the results of those 24 hours!